The Van

Sunday afternoon the kiddos and I headed out the door to pick up a couple of groceries. Just leaving the house on a Sunday afternoon puts me a little out of my element. I hardly ever go anywhere besides church on Sunday, also I try to do all of my errands during the week and in the morning. As we were all herding out the door I glanced at the van and noticed a "small" scrape on the front left corner. My breath left me and my brain started racing. Who did I hit? When did I hit someone? Did someone hit me? Is there a poor victim out there wondering who damaged there car and was so rude to leave without leaving a note? Feeling like a completely incompetent driver, I pulled into the parking lot and picked a spot with no one else around. Only to find that the commissary was closed. I missed it by 20 minutes. Thank the Lord I noticed before I got everyone out of the van! That probably would have been reason to cry. Then my nerves went crazy as I though "Great, now I have to drive more." The whole time we were out I was trying to think of how I had to have turned to have hit someone. When had I parked like that? I had to have been turning right into a parking spot, or backing out to the right, or someone else turned left around me and scraped me. I could not place the incident. Then, I was also thinking of how in the world I was going to blurt this gently out to Albert. I hate having to tell him of my mistakes when he is gone......... and when he is home for that matter! So, the next time I talked to him I had to bring it up. "Ok, I just have to blurt this out because I have no idea how to introduce the topic gently........ I have no idea how this happened, but I seem to have hit someone. I feel awful. I don't know if there is a victim driving around wondering what jerk hit him or when I hit someone, but there's a small scrape on the van...... It just scraped the paint off and there's some tan paint on the van. I just can't think of when it happened." Albert calmly questions, "tan paint? Did you hit the house?" Ding Ding Ding The lights are flashing and bells are going off! Yes, I hit the house! I feel ridiculous, but at least I know when it happened and that I only damaged our vehicle. 

Last Monday I was running out to get a birthday present and Albert's car was parked behind me. I knew it would be tight, but I thought I could squeeze out. (I get in these same predicaments with my body, maybe I don't have a clear view of things.) I had to pull forward and back up several times. I knew I got close to the pole once, but I had no idea that I scraped the bumper against it. And now you know yet another reason why I do not enjoy driving.

3 months old!

Olivia turned 3 months old yesterday. At some pointe last week I decided that Olivia would be 3 months old this Tuesday and did not realize I was a day off until I looked at our clock this morning and it said "6/23". I double checked it and everything says today is the 23rd except for my own mind. So, I do not have any pictures from yesterday to share with you, but I have some good ones of our little lady nonetheless. I had a good cry yesterday thinking of how quickly the time is going and how little it seems that I am able to cuddle her. The time is just going too quickly.

Tips for Parents

This tip comes from Albert. I wish I could remember exactly how he said it, though I'm sure you'll get a good laugh anyway!

If your child can pronounce the "B" sound, but cannot pronounce the "BR" sound it is not a good idea to use the word "britches" for pants. It is safer to refer to them as pants, shorts, or bottoms. Your child is certain to think "britches" is a fun word to say and will repeat it several times while leaving out the "r" all the while. This does result in a little laugh, but would not be appropriate anywhere outside of the home.

Walking Comments

I mentioned before that we get all sorts of comments while venturing around town. Most of them come while I am on a walk and have the four legged creatures in tow. Recently we have gotten a couple of comments that made me laugh or left me slightly confused. I suppose these three men were trying to be witty or original. Some succeeded, some did not. Enjoy!

- "That's quite an operation you've got there!" This came from a man riding his bike who looked a bit awkward and cumbersome himself. I just laughed.

- "Congratulations! I know it takes a lot to get out here." This one truly felt like a complement and it made me smile on the outside and the inside.

- "You've got your own parade with you." I'm not sure how to respond to this one. 

Have no fear, I am still hearing daily that I've got my hands full, but these have made for a fun change of pace.

Air Force Runner's Tip of the Day

When running with your buddy and you see a woman with a stroller and two dogs coming towards you, you have two options:

1. Drop back behind your friend for a few moments until you pass each other or

2. Swing out to the right of the woman and stroller and dogs while your buddy goes around the left side of her.

It may seem obvious to you (the reader) that the best choice is to drop back and pass on the left. Not everyone shares this view. Thankfully we did not have a collision this morning, but I have been walking a dog who tripped someone in the past because they chose option 2. Let's just all shake our heads together and remember to PASS ON THE LEFT!!!

Getting Older

Albert and I celebrated our birthdays last week. Well, there wasn't much celebrating as he worked 12 hours on his birthday and 14 hours on my birthday, or visa-versa...... I can't remember now. Either way, we are older now and have had a variety of ailments ever since the occasions. 

Albert has suffered with a pinched nerve or something similar in his back. It actually made him med-down for a few days. Then he slammed his knee into the wall on accident two days ago and the pain seems to be lingering longer then it should. Yesterday he had a tightness/weird pain in his chest.

I have had some very strange situations with my gut. I'm not really sure what the problem is. I'm trying a lactose free diet and am now at the end of the second full day. Can I just say that I miss cheese and milk! And granola with yogurt!! I hope lactose is not the problem, but I seem to be a bit better. Until this morning. The pack and I went for a walk and my gut was feeling a little off, but that's been the norm the last few weeks. So, we finished up the walk and came home, fed the girls their breakfast, fed Olivia and I started feeling worse. I laid on the floor for a few minutes and felt like I could push through. We headed to the park and I thought I'd just sit in the shade and watch the boys..... which I never do! After about ten minutes I told Canon we were going to leave soon. He assured me that I would feel better at the park. About two minutes later I asked him to put his helmet on, we had to go. Boaz was not so convinced that I was feeling horrible and he wandered around a bit more. I pushed the stroller over to him and realized that I did not have time to get home before getting sick. So, if you are at the park that we always go to and notice a bit of throw up in the grass, don't be grossed out, you've been warned. I felt a bit better after throwing up and we made it home. The boys watched movies the rest of the morning. Thankfully Albert was able to make it home for lunch and put the boys down for their naps. They finished up a movie after naps and Albert was home again. Currently they are playing in a new pool in the back yard and I am starting to feel a bit better and a bit more social. I can pretty well handle anyone being sick besides myself. I feel like the work load piles up and the house sort of starts falling apart...... Please pray that I am better soon and that I can have real dairy without my belly going crazy.

A Tale of Two Tails: The back door

This just makes me laugh and I must share it with you. We have a glass door on the back of our house. Our backdoor is off of the living room and straight in front of the couch. This means that I am looking out of this door most of the day while the dogs are looking in. I could clean this door everyday and it would still be covered in hand prints, nose prints, slobber and footprints. It just stays dirty. The weather has been so nice recently that I have been leaving the dogs out most of the day. Ivory thinks this is great when their is a squirrel to chase or someone walking by to bark at. If neither of those activities are available, she wants inside. Now, neither of our dogs ask to come inside in a normal, calm manor. They start out calm, Ebony will paw at the door with one paw a couple of times, or Ivory will give a single bark. They might try this a couple of times before they switch to "frantic" mode. In "frantic" mode both girls loose their minds. Ebony will jump, put all four feet on the door and push off. Ivory will stand with her front feet on the door and sort of hop. Both girls have deemed the door very dirty and will then look under their own smudge to see if anyone notices them and is coming to the rescue. It's as if they are looking in to see if they were loud enough or if they should try again. Maybe I should clean the door and all of the jumping and standing would stop........ I doubt it.